'Meet Bangladesh Exposition' begins in city 

A two-day international exhibition titled 'Meet Bangladesh Exposition', began today in the city to showcase Bangladesh's potential export sectors - medical and personal protective equipment (MPPE), leather and leather goods, footwear, plastics, and light engineering.

The Export Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J) project, collaboration between the Ministry of Commerce and the World Bank, organised the event at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the city.

Commerce Adviser SK Bashir Uddin inaugurated the exposition as the chief guest while Additional Secretary (Export) and Project Director of the EC4J Project Md Abdur Rahim Khan presided over it.

In his speech, Bashir urged investors to invest in Bangladesh to take advantage of the immense potentials that the country offers.

"I assure maximum support from the ministry to you (investors). Inform us about your problems. We will help you and work together. I will always be at your service," he added.

He said Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) recently organised a successful international conference to increase investment in Bangladesh. 

"We talked about our capabilities and opportunities there," he added.

He said, "We all know that our exports depend a lot on a single product. And we should diversify the exports. We need to utilise our growing population for sustainable economic growth by eliminating corruption and increasing transparency."

The commerce adviser paid his sincere respect to the entrepreneurs who have brought Bangladesh to this stage despite many obstacles and who have brought their products to showcase here. 

He said that Bangladesh has overcome the crisis of transshipment issue very smoothly. "Many thought that this would hurt our exports, but nothing like that happened. Rather our export costs will drop further," he added.

According to the organisers, more than 120 companies from these sectors are exhibiting their products at the exhibition.

Under one roof, more than 25 international sourcing agents and buyers from more than nine countries, such as Singapore, Libya, Colombia, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bhutan, Maldives, and Malaysia; more than 1,000 local buyers; and more than 120 Bangladeshi manufacturing companies are getting the opportunity to connect B2B (business-to-business) and network with each other.

Bangladeshi manufacturers are getting the opportunity to directly engage with international buyers, sourcing agents, investors and sectoral leaders to expand their business in the fair.

At the end of the exhibition, international sourcing agents and buyers will visit a number of industrial plants manufacturing Bangladeshi products. The organisers expect that this will help promote Bangladesh's export sector and increase foreign investment in the country.

In addition, the exposition will also feature sector-based breakout sessions, workshops and talks attended by industry experts and business leaders.

The EC4J Project also aims to directly contribute to achieving the Bangladesh government's policy goal of export diversification beyond the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, the organisers said.

At the same time, increasing the competitiveness of the relevant sectors and ensuring economic diversification will ensure the country's export earnings and stability and create employment opportunities within the country.

The organisers also expressed the hope that the project initiatives would help deal with the economic adversities of the future.

The two-day exhibition will continue until Friday. It is open to the public from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.